New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses International Series

By Luis Tirado Jr. | Oct 1, 2015

Head coach Todd Bowles and his New York Jets are ready to face the Miami Dolphins in the International Series across the pond in London this weekend. It’ll be an interesting adventure, that’s for sure as the Jets want to bounce back from their shocking loss last week at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us here at The Jet Press a full transcript from Bowles sharing the latest info on team injuries, the International Series and much more as he prepares for the 100th matchup between the Jets and Dolphins. Enjoy!

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On injuries…

Willie didn’t practice. Decker didn’t practice. Cumberland didn’t practice. Owusu, Riley, Jaiquawn (Jarrett) and (Darren) Walls.

On Jarrett’s injury…

Sore knee. He sprained his knee.

On if Jarrett was injured during the game in the Philadelphia game…

Yes, after he finished. I mean he played it but it just flared up on him.

On if Decker participated in individuals…

No, he didn’t practice today. He warmed up, but he didn’t practice.

On players that were limited in practice…

Limited was (Chris) Ivory and it was (Darrelle) Revis. Limited was (Quinton) Coples and I think everybody else was okay.

On if Cumberland will play against Miami…

Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to play.

On if he is hopeful for any of the players that were limited or injured…

(I’m) hopeful that Ivory can do more tomorrow. He did some today and still waiting on Decker, not sure there. Riley will probably be out, he’s got a laceration in his hand.

On an update for Revis…

Revis, he was limited, so I’m hopeful he will be okay.

On if his experience as the Miami interim head coach gave him a head start as a head coach now…

I don’t know if it gives you a head start. It helps you understand that there are things that are going to happen every day that you have to deal with that have nothing to do with football. You kind of get an overall feel for the managerial part of it. It helps you see things faster, but it doesn’t make the problems any different.

On the challenges he experienced transitioning into the interim head coach position for Miami…

You’re 13 weeks in. You’re not carrying head coaching material around. You just have to adjust and just try to manage the team as best you can and manage the coaches as best you can. That’s different for everybody – players, coaches and me as well. I think that was the part of it that was just getting to know everybody again.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles looks on against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Jets 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Steven Ryan-USA TODAY Sports

On the decision to sign Dion Bailey and move Ronald Martin to the practice squad…

Dion is a good football player. We’re always trying to churn the back end of the roster. Dion started the first two games for Seattle. He did some things that we liked and obviously they kept Dion over Martin at the time. He was a guy for future reference that we wanted to get our hands on.

On the effect Decker and Ivory’s absence had against Philadelphia…

Any time you miss two starters, you’re going to have an effect. But I thought we had enough guys. We had guys that could step in and play to make an impact. I don’t think that should have an outcome on the game. We just didn’t play well enough.

On if Erin Henderson will see an increase in playing time…

It all depends on the packages and what we have going into the game. He played in the first game, he played on some third down packages and certain games require different people, but we just have to see what games best fit his skills set.

On if the team is looking to sign an additional tight end before Sunday…

We’re looking. Either we’ll pick one up or we’ll bring up (Wes) Saxton off the practice squad.

On his plans for the team during the bye week …

Usually, you give them about four days off. Anywhere in between Wednesday and Thursday, those guys will be off for the week.

On if the team working out additional running backs resulted from a concern about Ivory…

No, just looking for depth. If somebody gets hurt, we bring guys in every Tuesday and if people get hurt you want to know you can reach out and sign somebody as opposed to just working them out and try to guess at that point in time. It’s a different group of guys that come in every week.

On if players are preparing for the London game by getting more sleep…

I think that’s hard to do right now. You hope you get to it and get to bed a little bit earlier. To say you’re going to go to be 30 minutes earlier, I know I’m guilty of it. You try to do as best you can and treat it like a west coast trip and then you adjust when you get there.

On if there is an assistant in charge of deciding when to go for the two-point conversion…

Yes, I have two upstairs – Ryan Slowik and Mark Collins.

On if those coaches would have those duties if the rules had not changed…

No, the extra point is fine right now. We’d have done that just the same.

On what went into the decision to challenge Jeremy Kerley’s out of bounds catch play…

Well, it was close and the replay booth was coming in late upstairs and we weren’t getting a good picture of it. We were all standing right there on the sidelines it was just a matter of whether the elbow hit before the other leg. We knew the leg was inbounds, and it was close, and we felt like it was worth a challenge since the replay didn’t come up fast enough.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Jeremy Kerley (11) catches a ball over Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Eric Rowe (32) but is ruled out of bounds during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On if he saw the replay before he challenged the call on Kerley’s play…

Not before we threw the flag.

On if Miami’s defensive line has struggled due to one sack registered on the season…

I don’t know if they’ve struggled. I know that they can get off the ball. I know that they can get to the quarterback. I don’t think you judge defensive linemen on sacks. We played Indianapolis and we only had one sack, but we had 11 quarterback hits. These guys can hit the quarterback and the sacks will come and they come in bunches. I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll get theirs, I just hope it’s not this week.

On Ndamukong Suh…

I haven’t watched him much. I was looking at the film on him. He’s still the same dominant guy he was in Detroit.

On how disruptive Suh can be…

He can be very disruptive.

On the key to slowing Suh down…

Him not playing (laughing). They got a lot of guys down there. We’ve got our work cut out for us.

On advice he can provide for Brian Winters with blocking Suh…

Just eat your Wheaties (joking). He’s going to be there. Brian’s a tough guy. He’ll fight.

On if Winters’ previous experience playing Suh will help against Miami…

I don’t know if it helps. I think he’s a better player because he has another year under his belt. He’s going to face a tough defensive tackle every week.

On if any contingency plans have been made in preparation for a possible hurricane…

Coming back, we’re still talking about making a few but we’ve got a couple of options.

On the unnecessary roughness call on Demario Davis’ tackle of Darren Sproles…

No opinion. They threw a flag, it was a 15-yard penalty. You can’t do it.

On if Calvin Pryor has a tendency to over-run plays…

I think Calvin’s fine. Every now and then, the defensive players are going to overrun a play. I think all of them did last week. He’s playing fine.

Sep 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Philadelphia Eagles running back Ryan Mathews (24) runs against New York Jets safety Calvin Pryor (25) during the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On if there is a tendency for aggressive players to take themselves out of position while trying to make the big hit…

Only if you’re too hyper. You make good decisions. If you’re too hyper and you’re over-aggressive, you’ve got to know when to tackle and when to go for the big hit. I think he has a good handle on that.

On if there are similarities between Miami’s schematics and the Eagles…

They have some things in Philadelphia that they’ve done, but they do a lot of other different things that they have in their arsenal. While it’s similar, it’s a lot different as well, so we’ve just got to be prepared.

On if Devin Smith fought hard enough for the ball against Philadelphia…

I thought he did a good job coming in (for) his first game. He jumped for the ball, he went for the ball. Those guys are big DB’s. They had great positioning, they made good plays. He tried to come down with it, he didn’t come down with it. You’ve got to credit those guys, but Devin did fine.

On if he expects to see more teams targeting running backs out of the back field to avoid the secondary…

(Philadelphia) didn’t target them. That’s what they do normally. We understood what they were doing with the running backs. We played them. I think Double-D (Demario Davis) looked in the back field a little bit too much on the one play with (Ryan) Mathews. Other than that, I don’t think the running backs were a problem catching the ball other than that play.

On if opposing defenses will crowd the line of scrimmage to force the offense to throw deep passes…

I hope we do face a lot at the line of scrimmage. That will give us more of an opportunity for deep balls. It’s the first time we’ve really tried to get them over the top. You’ve got to throw them no matter what just to back teams up, because we run the ball pretty good and to back them up off of you, you’ve got to throw them. Whether we complete them or not, it’s not necessary, it’s the fact that we can throw them.

On if Ryan Fitzpatrick has a weakness with throwing the deep ball…

Ryan can throw the deep ball.

On why three quarterbacks were active for the Philadelphia game…

We had extra guys down that we knew weren’t going to play. We just wanted to be careful and bring three quarterbacks (up).

On if Decker will draw more coverage if he’s healthy enough to play…

I mean he’s a starter, so obviously it will help to have him back. I don’t know about drawing coverage. I think people are going to play the way they play. It will be good just to have him back.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receivers Eric Decker (87) and Chris Owusu (17) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

On if Kacy Rodgers has provided information on how to exploit Miami’s weaknesses…

Not so much that they can be exploited, but he understands what they’re trying to do. Hopefully, that can help on Sunday.

On if he prefers to have two quarterbacks active as a general rule…

Yes.

On Branden Albert and Jason Fox…

Not sure about Brandon, I’ve got to read the injury report and see if those guys practiced during the week. Jason is a good tackle. He’s active, he’s started some games. Now he’s got his feet underneath him, so we expect the same tough challenge.

Next: New York Jets: Ryan Fitzpatrick discusses International Series

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